ATHLETE PERFORMANCE MONITORING USING OPTIMEYE

Teachers Who Coach

One of the most effective ways that coaches work on improving the performance of their teams and athletes is through the monitoring of physical well-being, movement and fitness. OptimEye is a new device available for coaches that allows them to track and monitor the performances of their athletes from anywhere in the world by receiving real-time data.

Catapult Sports designed and created the device that worn in a small compression top similar to a sports bra that is unobtrusively hidden under an athlete’s game uniform. It sends signals to a receiver that is attached to a coach’s computer in real-time, 10 times per second, so that every physical movement an athlete makes is recorded and quantified in an online player database through Catapult Live software.

Speaking to SportTechie, Catapult Sports explained the benefits for coaches of using OptimEye:

Coaches can make better use of practice time by turning scrimmage sessions into fitness testing. Because coaches need time with players to work on tactical analysis and skill development, and support staff need time to measure physical fitness, OptimEye can combine the two so athletes aren’t overloading in their training schedules and are still meeting all of their physical requirements.

Making practice meet game demands by designing training programs for each individual player based on playing position, match intensity, and playing time. This reduces the likelihood of coaches providing generic programs for all players irrespective of their game requirements.

Making your periodization model work by monitoring an athlete’s physical development. Because teams and players want to peak at the right time of the season, and fitness staff design training schedules based on this linear improvement, OptimEye quantifies this development to ensure the periodization model is being followed accurately.

Remote athlete monitoring for players that are training separately from the rest of the team. Because of OptimEye’s wireless data collection, players do not even need to be in the same country as the fitness staff that are monitoring their progress. This is particularly useful for talent identification for new recruits and for national teams with players spread out geographically.

Tactical analysis for coaches wanting to bring to life their whiteboard by turning the data provided by OptimEye into real-time animations so that athletes can simply follow team structures and movement.

Comparing player performance to decipher which athletes are working the hardest, which need to be more competitive at practice, and to construct training templates based on your best athletes so that new recruits or prospective players have quantified data to work towards.

Rehabilitating injured athletes by building up comprehensive histories of each player’s physical levels and variation in performance. By structuring a controlled rehabilitation program and placing limits on key variables, you can ensure athletes do not re-injure themselves on their road to recovery.